Dastgah

MARK MORDUE is a writer, journalist, and editor. His work has been published in Interview, Madison, Speak, The Nation, and Salon in the U.S., as well as Rolling Stone, Vogue, GQ, The Australian, and Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. Mordue is the winner of a 1992 Human Rights Media Award, and from 1992 to 1997 he was the founding editor of Australia's leading pop culture magazine, Australian Style.

AWARD-WINNING AUSTRALIAN JOURNALIST Mark Mordue invites you on his world trip that ranges from a Rolling Stones concert in Istanbul to talking with mullahs and junkies in Tehran, and from a cricket match in Calcutta to an S&M bar in New York, in addition to many points in between. Mordue chronicles his year-long global journey with his girlfriend, Lisa Nicol, exploring countries most Americans never see as well as issues of world citizenship in the 21st century. Written in the tradition of literary journalism, Dastgah will take you to all kinds of places, across the world ... and inside yourself.

ContentsPreface xiindia: Death or Life 19Lightning Storm Over Calcutta 3 | After the Rain 7First Ride/Blue Wallet/Day of the Dickhead 14 | The Big Match 22nepa l: Can't Face It 41Superstition Kills Woman 29 | Roadkill 30 | Fireman 44 /The Angry Hand 49 | The Pole 51A Matter of Interpretation 67indi a: Take Me With You 73Not Far From... 63 | Varanasi Morning 65Notes on a Train from Varanasi to Delhi 68 | The Searchers 71On Temple Road: the Way, the Truth, the Light 74United k ingdom: No One is Useless 89Electric Avenue, Brixton 83 | Himbasha 85No Stars in the Sky 89 | Never Enough 98Paris: Divine Spirit 105The Dead 101 | Green Light 112Turk e y: Old Clothes 119Whom Do I Meet? 117 | Istanbul, City of Cats 119Revenge on François 120 | Olympus Presleyiad 126Town Hall One 127 | Kayseri, 20 October 1998 130Double cross 131ir a n: Over All Vision 151Dream 155 | Waiting for a chance 157The Car that Killed Elvis 165 | Opium Poem 183Is Terry Venables Evil? 185 | Taksi God 195Dead Flowers 197 | Moses Baba and His Brother 208Songbird (Flower of the Night) 213 | Dastgah 215Close to us 223 | Coffee in Tehran 227Motherless Child 229 | The Call 232 | The Azerbaijanis 233The Gifts 237Paris: Help! 225Paris is a Mist of Zeroes 243Robbed and Crying: a Poor Man's Ballet 244New York: Ash Sleep 235I Get Lucky 255 | Land of the Giants 257Pissing in the Wind 265 | New York Conversation 273S&M: An American Express Story 279Gay Talese is Hungry 282 | The Chelsea Dilemma 285Wild Girl in New York City 309I Sat Down by Columbus and Wrote 311On Hudson Street 315Australia: Prayer of Touching 293When I Wake Up 321Acknowledgements and Credits 299Notes to the American Edition 308